Welcome!
Welcome to the Carl J. Lamb Elementary School Library blog! Our K-6 school is part of the Sanford School District, located in southern Maine. The posts below highlight the learning that is happening in our library. Please feel free to tell us what you think by leaving a comment. Happy reading!
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)Welcome to the library!
To take a tour of the library, watch this brief Animoto video…Welcome to the library
Filed under CJL News | Comment (0)Chickadee news
The Chickadee Award Program is in full swing at CJL! This week the kindergarten and first grade students listened to Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein. In this funny story, a rooster is putting his little chicken to bed. Every time the rooster starts a familiar folktale (Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Chicken Little), the little red chicken interrupts the story by telling the characters how to avoid the impending danger. After the story, the kindergartners did the “chicken dance.” They also started their Chickadee Award booklets. Each time they hear a Chickadee Award nominee, they glue a picture of the book cover into the booklet. They will use the booklets to vote for their favorite book at the end of the program.
The first graders extended Interrupting Chicken by having pairs of students take on the roles of Papa and Little Red Chicken. Papa would start telling one of the folktales and Little Red Chicken would interrupt him. The children used the “Puppet Pals” app on the library’s new iPad to act out the story. They were able to record and then view their digital puppet shows!
This week the second graders listened to Back of the Bus by Aaron Reynolds. In this historical fiction picture book, a young African-American boy and his mother are riding at the back of the bus when Rosa Parks refuses to leave her seat at the front of the bus. Mrs. Miliano showed photos of Rosa Parks and explained which parts 
of the story are factual. The book was particularly relevant this week as our country recalled the Civil Rights Movement through the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
Animal anagrams
Last week’s library contest featured animal anagrams. Students were given five three-letter words that can also spell the names of animals if you re-arrange the letters. For example, the letters in the word flow can be re-arranged to spell wolf. The contest words were god, arm, tar, act, and pea. Every student who correctly spelled the animal anagrams was entered in a drawing for a wolf stuffed animal. The lucky winner is fifth grader Makayla. Can you figure out our animal anagrams?
Filed under Grade 5, Library Contests | Comment (0)We’re going to the zoo…
The new theme in Mrs. McCall’s room is zoo animals. The group’s weekly library visit began with the song “The Animals at the Zoo.” Next the children listened to the book Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin, Jr. Then they listed zoo animals. Storytime ended with a viewing of the funny zoo story 
Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann.
Kudos again for returning library books!
Four classes deserve recognition for demonstrating positive library behavior and it’s seconds all around! Mrs. Dillane’s Yellow Room friends and Mrs. Carlisle’s Green Room friends each filled a second book return chart with 100 stickers. Mrs Sullivan’s first graders finished their second 100-piece poster puzzle. Miss Mallon’s second graders 
earned 1,000 points for returning 200 books for the second time. Each class received small prizes for their achievement.
Chickadee season
Once again, Carl J. Lamb School students are participating in the Chickadee Award, Maine’s picture book award program for children in kindergarten through fourth grade. The award is given annually to one of ten picture books selected by a committee of teachers and librarians. To prepare for the program, our students first learn about book awards (such as the Caldecott Medal) and the chickadee (Maine’s state bird).
This week the first graders practiced information writing as they learned about chickadees. The students were asked to identify features of birds (wings, feather, bills, etc.). Then they checked their list against the features identified in the book It Could Still Be a Bird by Allan Fowler. Next the students viewed a digital story about black-capped chickadees. The lesson ended with the students labeling a diagram of a chickadee (bib, bill, cap, eye, feet, tail, wing) and writing one fact about Maine’s special bird as a caption.
